We’re All Forrest Gump
Biographies are popular for a reason. People are fascinated by other people — particularly “famous” ones. We know some aspects of the lives of the people that interest us: typically, the beginning of their life, their “crowning achievement,” and their death. What we desire is color, by way of background. And if these lives happen…
Rachel Corrie’s Courage
Rachel Corrie’s CourageNot just another death in PalestineBy Kara Spencer Rachel Corrie was a beautiful, kind, young woman. She was an artist and peace activist. She was going to graduate from college this year. She was 23 years old, and she was murdered on March 16, 2003, in Palestine by an Israeli bulldozer. Rachel was…
Arts Agenda
Classical Music Alexander String Quartet The quartet has performed in major music capitals of four continents, securing its standing among the premier ensembles of its kind. Sun., March 30, 8 p.m. $15 adults, $10 seniors. Duke Family Performance Hall, Davidson College, Davidson. 704-894-2135. Always on Sunday Faina Lushtak, piano. Sun., March 30, 3 p.m. Free.…
Up In Smoke
I don’t know what the folks at the American Cancer Society are smoking. Last week they began a campaign to urge North Carolina legislators to increase the state’s cigarette excise tax as a way to help pay the state’s skyrocketing healthcare costs and alleviate possible health care cuts. I don’t know where these people have…
You Say Tomato
Randy Hartley was a commodities trader in Charlotte on 9/11. On that day he decided to change his life and began to look for a new challenge. On March 1, 2002, he opened the 60-seat The Green Tomato. His concept? “Basically it’s like Emeril Lagasse walked into a Boston Market and slapped it around a…
Going Postal
Sorry, dear reader. I’ve let the mailbox and e-mail bin overflow, so we’ll get right to it and answer what’s been on your minds lately. I am so sick of hearing about this Mark Mathis thing. Have people lost their minds around here? I have to agree with you, but I can’t remember more questions…
Some Like it Cab
If Shiraz is the young whippersnapper of the red wine world, then Cabernet Sauvignon is definitely the gray-haired granddaddy. Idolized for hundreds of years, Cab plays the role of the venerated sage that produces wines worthy of aging. The high acidity and tannins in Cabernet grape skin allow the wine to withstand years of sleeping,…
Letters
Crowther’s No Mencken Hal Crowther’s rambling, disjointed tirade against George Bush Jr. (“At The Twilight’s Last Gleaming,” Mar. 5), in which he manages to take a swipe at Jesse Helms and laud Nelson Mandela, include his own family and regale us, the reader, with anecdotal half-truths, most of which lack any semblance of factual evidence,…
Goodeats
All Around Town Anntony’s Caribbean, 400 S. Tryon St., 704-339-0303; 2001 E. 7th St., 704-342-0749. All locations have different owners. A hint of the tropics; rotisserie chicken with Jamaican jerk sauce, ribs, Paradise Island fish special, curries, and Caribbean styled greens. $$ Azteca, 116 Woodlawn Rd., 704-525-5110; 9709 Independence Blvd., 704-814-9877; 1863 W. Franklin Blvd.…
The Blotter
Must Be Clean: While shopping, a man somehow concealed Chore Boys, dishwashing liquid and bleach on his person. When he went to the counter to buy cigarettes, the store’s Loss Prevention manager stopped him and stated that she had been watching the store cameras and saw him take the items. The thief ran out of…
Audio Visual
You’ve no doubt noticed the trend. More and more, new CDs are being packaged with accompanying DVDS, and the reasons why are relatively simple. Record companies know that DVD players are quickly replacing VCRs in households across the country. Record companies also know that people are glued to their TVs now more than ever, and…
News of the Weird
State of anxiety: James C. Schaefer recently self-published an autobiography chronicling what he believes was his textbook case of Wisconsinaphobia (heightened anxiety attacks and debilitating back pains at any mention of the state or anything associated with it). After relocating from Milwaukee to California, he has become unnerved by people speaking with Wisconsin’s nasal accents,…
Radio Rave
Local radio station WXRC 95.7 (The Ride) is featured in Rolling Stone magazine this month (the one with thug/rapper 50 Cent on the cover). The station is listed, along with three other stations, in a story titled “The Last Great Independent Radio.” Along with The Ride, RS also spotlights Philly’s WBEB, San Diego’s KBZT and…
Music Menu
WEDNESDAY 3.26 James Mathus & Knock Down Society — Jimbo Mathus is a veteran with stints in numerous NC outfits including Squirrel Nut Zippers and his ongoing day gig with Countdown Quartet. Mathus and Knockdown Society gather up good time backwaters rock and boogie with more than hints of Southern fried cool. Double Door Inn…
Soundboard
Wednesday, Mar. 26 Amos’ Southend Bridge w/ Extra Medium Big Al’s Pub, Mooresville Scott Johnson Brickhouse Tavern, Davidson Robin Brown w/ Andy Seets Cajun Queen 7th Street Gator Band Double Door Inn James Mathus & Knock Down Society The Evening Muse Charlotte Coalition for Quality Education Excelsior Club Iizm Fat City The Swaggarts, Jimmy &…
See & Do
MARCH 26 . WEDNESDAY The annual Art in Bloom event at the Mint Museum of Craft + Design starts tonight with a gala party at the downtown museum from 7-9pm. Tickets are $75. Tomorrow, the wild times continue at the Hilton Charlotte with a talk at 10am by Carolyn Shepard. But hang on to your…
Among The Ruins
If there exists a kind of Twilight Zone in the realm of filmmaking, I imagine that All the Real Girls is the sort of movie that would occupy it. There are Hollywood movies, made with their all-star casts and their million dollar budgets, and there are regional movies, made with a bunch of locals and…
Karma Cleanser
Dear Karma Cleanser: Are some people just born lucky, and others not? I have a friend who has the most outstanding luck. She can pick up guys without even trying. She blinks her eyes the right way and her dad buys her a new car. Last week she even went on a cruise to the…
Dead Alive
Film: COME GET SOME! Plot: After flesh-eating zombies invade an unsuspecting North Carolina town, it’s up to a bumbling former agent (Steven A. Grainger) and four leather-clad babes-in-arms (Colleen Galeazzi, Bonnie Moore, Hayley Mattison and Jennifer Strickland) to take down the undead. Guiding Light: Jason Griscom, who serves as director, co-producer, co-writer, cinematographer, editor, and…
Stargazer
For All Signs Astrological forecasting shares a kinship with the weather report. Astrologers predict the psychological climate. Our thoughts and feelings are what generate events, just as the level of the barometer + temperature + wind are used to predict weather. Aries This week your energy level is off the charts. Your patience runs short…
Film Clips
NEW RELEASES THE CORE Burrowing beneath the earth rather than taking off into space, The Core is an inverted Armageddon, and the fact that it isn’t even one third as doltish as that inexplicable blockbuster means the battle’s already half-won. To be sure, the movie’s science wouldn’t hold up under the scrutiny of an eight-year-old,…
No Monopoly on Patriotism
The Bush administration’s success with propaganda is astonishing. The Christian Science Monitor reported that before the media war trumpets sounded, only about 3 percent of Americans believed Saddam Hussein had anything to do with Osama bin Laden’s 9-11 attacks. Now, thanks to uncritically and repeatedly broadcasting the never-even-remotely-proven accusation, some 40 to 45 percent of…
Charlotte’s Top 15 Drunk Drivers
The fact that they haven’t killed anyone, including themselves, is a miracle. That many of them continue to drive drunk after multiple stints in jail on drunk driving charges defies explanation. That the worst among them will be out of jail and back behind the wheel in the next 15 months should alarm every driver…
A Vision in NoDa
Every now and then, North Davidson — NoDa to you gentrificationists — really starts to look like the vision lots of folks have for it. Restaurants do a brisk business, people walk the streets freely, and music pours out of clubs onto the streets. Of course, the area’s not perfect — witness the occasional drug…
Peace Actions Grow
As the war against Iraq heads into its second week and the fighting intensifies, the local peace movement also continues to grow, as various groups step up the frequency of their rallies and demonstrations. Following Saturday’s weekly peace demonstration near Eastland Mall, several groups met to discuss new strategies, including possible civil disobedience.”We want to…
Swank Gets Cranking
After months of anticipation, Oscar winner Hilary Swank finally stands before us taking on much of the heavy lifting in an enterprising Charlotte Repertory Theatre revival of The Miracle Worker. The new production of William Gibson’s 1959 classic, reimagined under the direction of British hotshot Marianne Elliott, is here for tryouts through March 30, hurtling…
Another Half-Baked Plan
The City of Charlotte has come up with an anti-terrorism parking plan that should be listed in future dictionaries as the definition of “half-baked.” At first, the city’s plan to prevent terrorists from bombing or attacking local buildings by towing their vehicles or writing them parking tickets struck us as a scheme to rake in…
Opera Carolina’s Mikado Triumphs
Eight seasons after showing Charlotte how not to do Gilbert & Sullivan, Opera Carolina returned to the scene of the massacre, triumphantly breathing new life into The Mikado. Infusions of luxuriant costumes flooded Belk Theater with rich color and samurai style. Behind the lovely latticework of an equally well-chosen set, Michael Baumgarten’s lighting transformed the…
Privacy On Loan
Mecklenburg’s library system has no plans to warn patrons about provisions of the Patriot Act that make it easier for law enforcement authorities to find out what the patrons have checked out, says Mecklenburg’s Director of Libraries Bob Cannon. The issue came up after it was announced that the Santa Cruz, CA library system had…
